Testimony completed on slaying of officer

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Testimony in the trial of a man charged with murdering a police officer at a Kapolei ice cream store ended yesterday after three shop employees and a customer said they did not see or hear the two plainclothes officers identify themselves before one of them was fatally shot.

But none of the four defense witnesses called on behalf of murder defendant Shane Mark could say for certain that plainclothes officers Glen Gaspar and Calvin Sung did not say they were police or show their badges as they approached Mark to arrest him.

The three employees and customer said they had their backs turned or were concentrating on other matters when a scuffle broke out between the two officers and Mark, followed by three gunshots moments later. The employees said police did not tell them of their plans to arrest Mark in the Baskin-Robbins store at Kapolei Shopping Center.

Lawyers for the prosecution and the defense are scheduled to make their closing arguments on Tuesday before the case is turned over to the jury.

Sung and Gaspar were part of a six-man team that had gone to the ice-cream store March 4 with warrants charging Mark with two counts of attempted murder stemming from a Feb. 1 incident in Moanalua in which Mark shot at two men, wounding one of them in the thigh, during a dispute over a defective video camera.

Mark, 29, does not deny shooting Gaspar, 40, but is claiming that Gaspar and Sung did not say they were police or show their badges as they approached him and put their hands on his arms and wrists. Mark has testified that he pulled a .22-caliber revolver from his waistband and shot Gaspar, believing the two plainclothesmen were retaliating for the shooting in Moanalua a month earlier.

The prosecution maintains that Gaspar and Sung announced they were police officers and that they lifted the hem of their shirts as they approached Mark to show him police badges attached to their belts.

Baskin-Robbins employee Shanon Limatoc said she was waiting on a customer when she heard a commotion and turned to see three men in a struggle and thought a fight had started. "I told them not to do that in the store and to get out," Limatoc said.

Employee Nettie Miller said she heard her co-workers yelling at the men, "Take this thing outside!", and turned toward them momentarily before turning away to continue washing dishes. She said she heard a "popping sound" and thought someone had kicked a trash can until someone yelled at her and the other employees to get down.

Customer Milton Miller said he had just ordered a scoop of pecan and praline ice cream and was handing a $20 bill over the counter to pay for it when he noticed three men scuffling and heard the employees yelling at the men to get out of the store.

Miller said it appeared that two men were trying to "subdue" the third and that he surmised two of the men were police officers. He said he didn't recall seeing anything that showed the men were police officers or hearing them say that they were.

"Then I heard a series of gunshots and I hit the floor," Miller said.

He said he later dashed out of the store but heard reports on his car radio while driving home from work later in the day that a police officer had been killed and felt obliged to file a report with the police.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.